airplane – KNOM Radio Missionhttp://www.knom.org/wp
96.1 FM | 780 AM | Yours for Western AlaskaThu, 08 Dec 2016 03:00:08 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7http://www.knom.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cropped-KNOM-K-Logo-512px-square-32x32.jpgairplane – KNOM Radio Missionhttp://www.knom.org/wp
323259285469Bush Planes, ATVs, and Old Fuel Trains: Transportation in Western AKhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2016/09/16/bush-planes-atvs-and-old-fuel-trains-transportation-in-western-ak/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2016/09/16/bush-planes-atvs-and-old-fuel-trains-transportation-in-western-ak/#commentsFri, 16 Sep 2016 20:00:46 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=25069Davis, Tyler, Karen, and Lauren talk transportation: what mode of transportation they prefer to use, how they all arrived in Nome, and why they came here.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2016/09/2016-09-16-Audio-Blog-Davis.mp3

News volunteer Davis Hovey cannot stress enough that he did not get married last weekend, but instead, he went to the lower 48 to be one of the groomsmen in his best friend’s wedding.

In order to make it to the wedding and back to Nome within four days, Davis had to book a long, roundtrip flight with Alaska Airlines and United. That set up the theme for this week’s blog, which was transportation. All four of the volunteers discuss what mode of transportation they prefer to use, how they all arrived in Nome, and why they came here. This particular audio blog features a question which has been coined as the “Davis’ Deep Dive” portion of the audio blog.

Feedback is always encouraged, so feel free to tweet your questions, comments, and suggestions about our upcoming audio blogs to @tylerstup, @frostlaur, or @DavisMHovey on Twitter — or leave a comment, below. Enjoy, and thanks for listening!

A Cathay Pacific flight en route from Hong Kong to Los Angeles made an emergency landing at an Aleutian Islands military airport early Wednesday morning due to smoke inside the plane.

Ian Gregor, a spokesperson with the Pacific Division of the Federal Aviation Administration, said Flight 884 “declared an emergency and diverted to Eareckson Air Station in Shemya,” at the far western edge of the Aleutian chain.

Airlines officials described the emergency as “smoke detected in the aircraft.”

U.S. Air Force Colonel Frank Flores, the regional commander for Eareckson and 20 other installations in the Pacific and Alaska, said the air station has a single 10,000-foot long asphalt runway with a modern instrument landing system, “and it can handle a Triple 7, it can handle our larger aircraft. It was built up in the 40s to handle bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, and we’ve maintained it primarily as a divert runaway.”

Old aircraft revetments, buildings, and two other runways on the island date back to World War II and are mostly abandoned. But an operational crew of about 120 people—contracted through the Air Force—were on the ground to handle the emergency landing.

“We get airplanes out there probably once a day, once every other day,” Col. Flores said. “We have a contingent of people who will respond to any aircraft arrival. [We] mobilize firefighters, airfield managers, and airfield personnel. People to receive passengers and cargo.

“So when this airplane came in, an announcement was put over the net and all those people assembled in the airfield just like they would for any other arrival,” he said.

Although it’s still unclear what grounded the flight beyond the smoke in the aircraft, Col. Flores said the plane appears to have been “fixed” and could be in the air by noon today [Wednesday].

When it does leave Shemya, Pearson with Cathay Pacific said the plane will fly to Anchorage, where another Cathay Pacific plane (dispatched from Hong Kong) will bring passengers the final leg to Los Angeles.

The Cathay Pacific flight is operated jointly with American Airlines and South America’s LAN Airlines.

Nome residents may have had the old George Gershwin song (“A Foggy Day”) running through their heads early last month, as KNOM’s hometown was shrouded for days in thick fog (not to mention, low-30s temperatures and snow in June!).

In Western Alaska, fog isn’t just a curiosity (or mere fodder for song lyrics); foggy weather can last for days on end and cut off KNOM’s listening communities from access to the outside world. Without a road system, our listeners depend on aircraft to transport food, mail, and people, and when the fog is thick, bush planes – like those in Nome, pictured – can’t fly.

Among those waylaid by the fog was volunteer Dayneé Rosales, whose trip to a whaling festival in the community of Point Hope had to be cancelled in the wake of repeatedly grounded flights. Challenges like these are but a sample of the difficulty of life in rural Alaska. It’s one of the reasons why our mission exists: when transportation is greatly limited, communication (via the radio) becomes even more important.

[hr]

This article is part of the July 2013 edition of our newsletter, The Nome Static.

A Cessna Caravan airplane with ten people aboard crashes on a hilltop three miles north of Nome in near zero visibility.

KNOM broadcasts frequent live reports from search and rescue headquarters and from the scene as rescuers battle heavy snow and fog looking for the aircraft.

This is one of many crashes covered by KNOM over the years. It’s unique, however, in that the passengers (all of whom survive with minor injuries) follow the progress of their own search efforts by listening to a portable radio tuned to KNOM.

Alaska’s Mount Redoubt began erupting in late 1989 and continued to erupt for months afterward; this photo was taken in April 1990.

December 15, 1989

489 miles southeast of Nome, the Mount Redoubt volcano erupts, spewing great clouds of sulfurous volcanic sand and dust into the air.

While the debris drifts away from Nome, the corrosive billows of grit ground airplanes in Anchorage, western Alaska’s supply hub. Grocery shelves grow bare, holiday presents are missing, and Nome’s mailboxes lay empty for a week. For the next four months, Redoubt’s periodic ash clouds disrupt flights to and from Nome.

For a town of just 3,000 people, Nome receives lots of air traffic: including this Coast Guard plane a few days before Christmas 2011. For travelers to southern Alaska or to the Lower 48, air travel is the only way out.

As you may know, the Western Alaska communities that we serve are not connected to the state’s road system. Our ability to travel and to transport goods is thoroughly dependent upon commercial and cargo airlines and, especially, upon the weather. Lately, low visibility and other poor conditions have forced the cancellation of a number of Nome-bound flights.

When our planes don’t fly, cargo (mainly food) and weary passengers end up waiting days to arrive at their destination. Fruit and vegetables bound for rural Alaska may sit for days in warehouses and on runways; the food often spoils, and many frozen foods thaw.

Last week, KNOM’s newest volunteers, Daynee Rosales and Eva DeLappe, were due to arrive at our mission to begin their respective years of service. However, both were diverted to Anchorage when fog and other poor conditions prevented their flights from landing in Nome. After layovers of 12-24 hours in Alaska’s largest city, both Daynee and Eva finally arrived at the Nome airport to hugs and happy smiles from the KNOM staff.

Daynee and Eva have just begun their two-week training programs. We are so thankful for their service.

Tory Sagoonick of Shaktoolik, Alaska - the featured youth for the June 2012 episode of Caught Doing Something Good.

For the first time since CDSG began, we’ve caught a student from Shaktoolik doing something good.

Tory Sagoonick graduated last month from Shaktoolik School and will venture off to UAF this fall in hopes of beginning his quest to become a pilot. Throughout his time in high school, Tory kept busy by helping out with everything from tutoring other students to assisting with construction projects around the building.

Tory’s involvement stretched beyond even his local community; he remained involved with sports all year round in an effort to stay connected with the entire region. A sports fanatic, Tory kept himself busy throughout the dark winter days with cross country, volleyball, basketball, and Native Youth Olympics.

In this episode, Tory also discusses the three years of his life that he spent living in Kotzebue and reveals the reasons behind his return to Shaktoolik.

http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2012/06/2012-06-01-knom-cdsg-tory-sagoonick.mp3
]]>473Profile: The BOSS Projecthttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2012/05/10/profile-the-boss-project/
Thu, 10 May 2012 22:44:43 +0000http://www.knom.org/news/wp/?p=327The BOSS Project is the Bering-Okhotsk Seal Survey, and for the past month, they’ve been flying planes with specialized cameras over the Bering Sea. An international collaboration between NOAA Fisheries and their Russian counterparts, BOSS is using digital cameras alongside heat-sensing thermal cameras to take a population survey of ribboned, spotted, ringed, and bearded seals.

John Jansen, a biologist who works for NOAA Fisheries out of Seattle, has been in Nome since April, flying over remote parts of the Bering and helping complete the survey.